After graduation from the University of California at Berkeley, Byron
Haskin worked for a time as a newspaper cartoonist. He began his career
in the film industry in 1920 as a commercial-industrial movie
photographer, and then as a cameraman for Pathe and International
Newsreel. Later he became an assistant director at Selznick
Pictures. He was a cinematographer during the silent era, worked on
special effects and helped to develop the technology that eventually
brought sound to the film industry. He began directing in the late
1920s at Warner Brothers and journeyed to England in the early 1930s to
make films there. Upon his return he was appointed head of the Warner
Brothers Special Effects department. He returned to directing, and was
responsible for Walt Disney's first live-action film, Die Schatzinsel (1950). In the
mid-'50s Haskin began a rewarding association with producer George Pal,
for whom he shot what is probably his best-known film, the science-fiction classic Krieg der Welten - Schlacht um die Invasion (1953). Haskin would collaborate with Pal on three
other films, Wenn die Marabunta droht (1954), Die Eroberung des Weltalls (1955) and Die sechs Verdächtigen (1968). Fans will also remember
Haskin for the cult-classic Notlandung im Weltraum (1964).
